I program python for my job, but it is all test cases and selenium. For games I haven't used python in a long time, and lately have been feeling nostalgic for all of the fun game programming I used to do.

So what have I been doing gamewise in the last couple years if I haven't been using python? Well, it's been a little bit of unity, chasing the early VR craze, which was quite fun but I feel pretty over it as the market is really challenging. Not enough people have headsets, and many who do are looking for a specific kind of thing. I usually tend to make very experimental games, and the anti-gravity 3d space pool game I made was no exception. You can see some video of it at the steam page here. Hmm. I should really do another update!

I've also been thinking about and experimenting with analogue game design - board games and card games. It's been a great experience for several reasons. First, without having to worry about programming, you get to the raw gameplay much faster and can answer questions like "is this mechanic good" or "what affect does this change have" much faster. On the other hand, I've found that without being able to rely on the whiz bang of multimedia, you really have to execute strong. I recommend any budding game designers give it a try - you'll learn things you didn't know you didn't know!

There seems to be a lot of cool things happening in this space as well, with card games like keyforge and warhammer champions shifting paradigms in the physical realm, and hearthstone and tabletop simulator bringing analog gaming into the digital space in exciting ways.

So, I'm burned out on 3d, jazzed up about card games, and nostalgic about game development with python. What better excuse than pyweek to make on a digital board game of some kind?

My plan is to build a client/server implementation of a digital card game. The game design itself will be based on the theme, the client/server I will be experimenting with before the competition starts, (but not writing any code.) I will be using kivy, to enable the client to be available on mobile and desktop platforms. And I intend for the server, written with simple http requests using hug to allow both realtime and asynchronous play.

Ambitious I know. It wouldn't be pyweek without some early big dreams that are dashed on the rocks of the reality of the last days.